Resources for aging issues

Access these new and helpful resources online.

Promoting Successful and Healthy Adult Development
Live webcast on Friday, June 27 will feature Manfred Diehl, PhD, as presenter. Because clinicians in their day-to-day work are mostly exposed to the “dark side” of the human aging process, this workshop will highlight that the majority of adults actually grow old without major physical or psychological impairments. It will focus on strategies for optimizing successful and healthy aging.

Caregiver Family Therapy: An Integrative Intervention for Family Caregivers
Live webcast on Friday, Nov. 7 will feature Sara Honn Qualls, PhD, as presenter. Caregivers experience increased burden and distress while the care recipient struggles to adapt. This impact reverberates throughout the family. CFT offers a systemic approach to help families address the challenges and opportunities of caregiving, and navigate the transitions.

Resources for Psychological Practice with Older Adults and their Caregivers (PDF, 276KB)
Resource tip sheet developed by the Office on Aging provides a list of resources to supplement the recently updated APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Older Adults and in response to the Institute of Medicine report The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands.

What Mental Health Providers Should Know About Working with Older Adults
Update of the 1997 What Psychologists Should Know about Working with Older Adults brochure (developed by a Presidential Working Group of then APA President Norman Abeles, PhD) provides mental health providers resources, tools and information to enhance their work with older adults. The publication utilizes the framework of and summarizes the guidance offered in the 2013 APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Older Adults. It links readers to the complete set of APA guidelines and additional resources for those currently working with older adults or hoping to work with this population in the future.

The Role of Psychology in Health Care: Alzheimer’s Disease (PDF, 1.26MB)
Part of the APA Center for Psychology and Health’s briefing series. The brief highlights how cognitive testing and neuropsychological evaluation by psychologists with specialized training and expertise are the most effective ways to differentiate dementia from normal age-related cognitive changes and those related to depression and/or other mental disorders.

Talk of Ages
A new website that offers resources for integrating aging content and intergenerational activities into college classes. It includes teaching tools and tips, information on ageism, careers in aging and resources for special topics such as women and aging, healthy aging and the environment, storytelling and other contemporary issues. It was developed by Joann M. Montepare, PhD, director of the RoseMary B. Fuss Center for Research on Aging and Intergenerational Studies at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, and made possible through a grant from the APS Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science.

State of the States Eldercare Workforce Data issue briefs
The Eldercare Workforce Alliance has developed these issue briefs that look at the eldercare workforce and population data by state. The briefs highlight the need for eldercare workforce training investments and supports for family caregivers.

Preconvention Workshop: What Psychologists Should Know about Working with Older Adults
The content of the workshop will focus on assessment and treatment of late-life depression and anxiety, cognitive disorders and differential diagnosis of dementias, psychological and behavioral interventions for elders along the continuum of function, and unique aspects of managing a professional practice with older patients. Register online. 7 CE credits.